Changing

As the shades and colors change with the seasons, we too must alter our visions and readjust our lenses. Like photographers, we add clarity, sharpen detail or even change the landscape as we work on perfecting a new picture.

For those of us who live in places that enjoy all four seasons, autumn is a multi-colored month that cannot be ignored. Autumn, fondly called fall by many, evokes several conversations. There is no way, we can drive by the tinted foliage of the trees and not have some type of verbal reaction. Alice Walker said in The ColorPurple, “I think it ticks, i.e. God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” We do notice.

Autumn is the perfect time to fall in step with Mother Nature and prepare before Old Man Winter arrives with his long white beard and huge overcoat. That change is not an option here and he shows up with a loud roar which makes us all shiver with a BRRR. We must take an inventory and see where we are on our journeys and carefully plan for a few months of frigid survival.

In order to be ready, we have to change like the colors of the leaves. We change our wardrobes and put away the summer flair. We change the oil and the anti-freeze in our cars. We change from the light linens to the heavier flannel sets which offer us secure warmth. We change from frivolous spending and tighten our purse strings remembering that those expensive holidays are on the way. We change our methods of grocery shopping and stock up on those canned items which can fuel us on those snowed-in days.

And most importantly, we change our attitudes and outlooks. We may have to take a second look at the circumstances surrounding us and see them a little differently. We readjust our goals and we take advantage of that which is readily set before us.

Then, we can graciously smile and nod at our new levels of acceptance. We understand that we can stand alongside the trees that go through their changes without struggle. We take note and know that we are also being stripped of all of the unnecessary baggage. Then, we can travel lightly as we get ready for the sparkling new!